Thru Hiking Family of 8 - Your Thoughts?

[T.S.Kobzol]

Don't care. Yawn.


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[swisscross]

They DID IT!! Suck it haters

ahhh...NO THEY DID NOT. Suck it supporters.

[Gambit McCrae]

This hike has a $25,000 price tag attached to it

[George]

the media circus was by design.

designed to get handouts - as above it was 25,000 (+ what was given and not counted )

the guy makes 6 kids, has money to get all tatted up - yet wants others to subsidize the 6 month vaca - in other words, about typical - but like I said before, there are many worse things happening to kids than what he did

[ADK Walker]

designed to get handouts - as above it was 25,000 (+ what was given and not counted )

the guy makes 6 kids, has money to get all tatted up - yet wants others to subsidize the 6 month vaca - in other words, about typical - but like I said before, there are many worse things happening to kids than what he did

Did you even watch the video? He states he had $50,000 budgeted for the hike. Doesn't sound like his initial plan was to be "subsidized" by others.

[George]

This hike has a $25,000 price tag attached to it

his initial estimate was 50K - that was about right, just the other 1/2 was on handouts - so about 6000 per person, close to average - also said no health insurance, so one hospital stay for 100,000 would have changed things - unless of course he stiffed the hospital

[George]

Doesn't sound like his initial plan was to be "subsidized" by others.

that "plan" was certainly altered, otherwise would accounts be set up for donations?

the attitude portrayed in the video was that if someone else paid, it did not cost him - no mention of plans to repay that "debt"

when I saw them they were being slacked/ fed by someone - no problem if you give that back/ pay it forward - I see that as unlikely to happen but hopefully it does

[Francis Sawyer]

I was taught that if I had nothing nice to say I should remain silent. So I shall.

[Astro]

that "plan" was certainly altered, otherwise would accounts be set up for donations?

the attitude portrayed in the video was that if someone else paid, it did not cost him - no mention of plans to repay that "debt"

when I saw them they were being slacked/ fed by someone - no problem if you give that back/ pay it forward - I see that as unlikely to happen but hopefully it does

Multiple excellent points by George on this page.

[rickb]

Multiple excellent points by George on this page.

Not really IMO.

They had a Patrean account set up to accept micro donations from those enjoying their YouTube channel, which is hardly unique among bloggers (and generated less than $2000 from many who were entertained by theirs).


They did not monetize it with adds, or campaign for support like so many do with Go Fund Me appeals.

As for their accepting the generosity of others — what is the big deal? They did not pretend to be poor or struggling, but rather shared their finances and 7-figure net worth with the world is painful detail.



Accepting people’s kindness is OK, and affirms that everything we do for one another is not about money.

Most importantly, if they were using the videos to make money any idiot would have found ways to make their family more sympathetic and deserving of help. You don’t tell folk that you are a millionaire if you goal is to get a freebie.

[Traveler]

Seems to work for 1%.

[rickb]

his initial estimate was 50K - that was about right, just the other 1/2 was on handouts - so about 6000 per person, close to average - also said no health insurance, so one hospital stay for 100,000 would have changed things - unless of course he stiffed the hospital

Pretty easy to stiff a hospital if you don’t have assets and go bankrupt.

Much harder if you have a relatively high net worth which includes many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of properties (all without a mortgage).

You know, like the Family of Eight shared with the world in great detail.

Infact, the way hospitals bill those without insurance, they would likely end up with more from billing them directly, than they would get from billing private insurance health insurance company— and much more than they would get from someon on Medicare or the like.

[George]

You don’t tell folk that you are a millionaire if you goal is to get a freebie.

did not watch all the youtubs / was not aware of the economic situation

I have little doubt that many who subsidized the hike also were also not aware of large net worth

in this case my respect for the parents is much less than again:

IMO what is worse than accepting handouts for your recreation from those with less resources than you ( like the TV evangelist soliciting donations from old ladies on social security and paying hookers)

then the last video was pretty much moaning about how much it still cost him ( the half he did not get others to pay for)

[BenCrawford]

Followed this thread for a while but thought I might respond to a few things.

designed to get handouts - as above it was 25,000 (+ what was given and not counted )

the guy makes 6 kids, has money to get all tatted up - yet wants others to subsidize the 6 month vaca - in other words, about typical

I'm not sure where George is getting his facts or forming his opinions. We did not design our trip to get handouts. When we left for our trip we had 2 people that had reached out for us to let us stay at their place. One in Damascus and one in North Carolina. We were overjoyed at the thought of this generosity and had not planned on receiving anything else on our entire trip. (we have videos documenting all of this that were published before our trip)
Also, we never asked anyone to subsidize anything. We had plenty of money for all of our expenses and fully planned on paying for all of them.

I have little doubt that many who subsidized the hike also were also not aware of large net worth

in this case my respect for the parents is much less than again:

...

then the last video was pretty much moaning about how much it still cost him ( the half he did not get others to pay for)

I don't think it's the responsibility of a hiker to make their net worth known to anyone who wants to provide trail magic to them? Do you George? But, for one second let's pretend it was our responsibility. We have more information about our finances available online than anyone I know Including our net-worth, assets/liabilities and monthly income/expenses. Anyone can look it up if they care. Most of the people providing trail magic for us didn't care. I'm not sure why you care so much.

What do you mean "the last video was pretty much moaning about how much it still cost him"? When did we moan? Did you even watch the video. It was the exact opposite. It was me saying how much we spent compared to how much we budgeted (much less), talking about how worth it it was, and encouraging others to spend in the same way. I have no complaints about how much money we spent. I would do it again. We never planned on Trail Magic. Yes, it was awesome. I'm not sure why you are making these things up.

Not really IMO.

They had a Patrean account set up to accept micro donations from those enjoying their YouTube channel, which is hardly unique among bloggers (and generated less than $2000 from many who were entertained by theirs).

They did not monetize it with adds, or campaign for support like so many do with Go Fund Me appeals.

As for their accepting the generosity of others — what is the big deal? They did not pretend to be poor or struggling, but rather shared their finances and 7-figure net worth with the world is painful detail.


Accepting people’s kindness is OK, and affirms that everything we do for one another is not about money.

Most importantly, if they were using the videos to make money any idiot would have found ways to make their family more sympathetic and deserving of help. You don’t tell folk that you are a millionaire if you goal is to get a freebie.

I appreciate what Rick said because it more lines up with the truth. We have filmed a daily vlog for more than 3 years. About 2 years ago we set up a Patreon account so that people that wanted to fund us, could. When hiking the AT we left it active. What's amazing is that we are the only hikers I know of who have their account demonetized. This means there are no ads or revenue. This keeps EVERY DONATION COMPLETLY OPTIONAL. It's actually very unique and we are very excited and proud about it. I believe we mentioned our patreon link one time out of about 125 videos and it brings in very little money, relatively speaking but we are fine with that because we don't do it for the money. We got a lot of offers of kindness from people on the trail. Sometimes it was confusing because we knew we didn't need it but we learned that wasn't the point. We saw accepting people's offers as a chance to connect with people and invite them on our journey. George's comments are debasing us and they are minimizing the effort of the so many people that helped us. I don't think the people who gave us meals or invited us into their homes were stupid and thought we would starve if they didn't help. They were helping us for other reasons. - Ben

[Tundracamper]

... I don't think the people who gave us meals or invited us into their homes were stupid and thought we would starve if they didn't help. They were helping us for other reasons. - Ben

I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. I didn’t watch all of the videos, but I did watch quiet a few. I for one was surprised that you weren’t monetizing the YouTube content and that you weren’t pushing for supporters. So, from my perspective you are to be commended for how you did things.

Also, some folks don’t understand that there are people out there that genuinely just enjoy helping others without any expectation of getting something in return. Just look at how many people look down their noses at missionaries. Critics just don’t understand that philosophy.

Looking for forward to y’all’s next big adventure.

[Gambit McCrae]

BenCrawford:
I met you and your family just north of Devils Fork Gap on 3-31-18 at 10:47am.
IMG_8928.JPG

Job well Done!

[chknfngrs]

H your own H you turkey lurkey!!

[TexasBob]

This hike has a $25,000 price tag attached to it

I watched about 6 minutes of this before losing total interest. I thought his wife's facial expressions said it all "How boring and why did I marry this turkey?" Would make a great SNL skit.

[petedelisio]

Nice thru hike Crawfords…. Glad you and everybody out there this year were able to get out there.

Never thought you would crush six months the way ya'll did.

[T.S.Kobzol]

It's a freaking Von Trapp freak show


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